An autonomous vehicle is a vehicle that is capable of sensing and navigating its environment with little or no user input. Vehicle automation has been categorized into numerical levels ranging from Level Zero, corresponding to no automation with full human control, to Level Five, corresponding to full automation with no human control. Various automated driver-assistance systems, such as cruise control, adaptive cruise control, and parking assistance systems correspond to lower automation levels, while true “driverless” vehicles correspond to higher automation levels. Even though autonomous vehicles have made great advances in recent years, designers continue to seek improvements, particularly with respect to navigation functionality such as trajectory planning.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that perform improved trajectory planning for autonomous driving systems, particularly systems and methods that addresses various driving environments and conditions. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the systems and methods will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.